In the end, the underdog Niagara IceDogs weren’t good enough to topple a team most opponents didn’t want to face in the OHL playoffs.

When the final horn sounded on Niagara’s 2012-13 season, the visiting IceDogs were on the wrong end of a 3-2 decision that gave the Oshawa Generals a 4-1 victory in the first-round playoff series.

“It was tight game,” IceDogs head coach/GM Marty Williamson said. “They took the play to us a little bit, and I think we had a bend-but-don’t-break kind of attitude.”

Like Friday’s 4-1 loss at home, Niagara had some chances but couldn’t cash them in.

“The better team won,” Williamson said. “They were deeper than us and found a way to win. We found a way to battle awfully hard and give them everything they could handle.”

A few more bounces here and there and the series would still be alive.

“They’re ready for their next series, and they are into the playoffs now,” Williamson said. “It was no walk in the park for them.”

For Williamson and IceDogs fans, the team’s brief playoff run was an eye-opener into the potential of young players like Carter Verhaeghe, Anthony DiFruscia, Brendan Perlini, Aaron Haydon and others.

“We’re going in the right direction and there’s a good, young group coming back” he said.

“We have some work ahead of us and we need to have a good draft, and keep building but we’re not going to be a doormat and have a terrible year like some teams have.”

It was important to get those young players a chance to play a prominent role in the playoffs.

“There’s nothing more valuable than going through what they went through and we saw the emergence of what they can do,” Williamson said, “Playoffs are a totally different animal and that’s why you want to make playoffs. There’s a lot of good karma coming out of it.”

And while Williamson looks to the future, the present is sad with the departure of players such as Ryan Strome, Steven Shipley and Shayne Rover.

“There was some pretty good tears in there,” Williamson said. “They are a group of guys who are pretty special to me.”

About the only bright spot with the series loss is Niagara can now devote its full attention to next Saturday’s OHL draft.

“That’s a consolation award but when the hurt goes away on Monday and Tuesday, the focus is 100% on the draft and making this team as good as we can,” Williamson said.

Strome and Verhaeghe scored for the IceDogs in Friday’s loss while Boone Jenner netted a pair and Bradley Latour added a single for Oshawa. The Generals out-shot Niagara 35-20 in the game.